"When it was introduced in the late 1990s, politicians and patients’ rights groups were told that the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient, was intended to relieve suffering in the last hours – days at most – of terminal illness. It allows the refusal or withdrawal of food and hydration as well as the suspension of anything but comfort care and the administering of sedatives that can hasten death. In cases where a patient is so close to death that his organs are failing, fluids cannot be processed and ethicists agree that sedatives to ease pain and distress are warranted.

Since then, however, the LCP has come under increasing criticism as stories continue to emerge of the protocol being used to dehydrate and starve to death vulnerable patients who would otherwise recover and live if given proper care and treatment. In most cases that come to light, families and patients are not told by hospital staff that the LCP has been initiated."

Would making a statement about socialized medicine be too political, or would it just be in bad taste? I know it would be a cheap shot, but those are the sorts I am best at, I am way to poor to be taking expensive shots like Johnny Walker Blue.

Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

I am being vague in what I am about to say but it seems much of the same mindset that deals out death on a cost & chance basis is the same mindset that ridiculed the likes of Mother Theresa who prayed over those who were otherwise discarded to die & she herself did not have the facilities to medically accomodate the number of poor suffering souls in her care.

the link from the original post uses information from that famously accurate and scrupulously researched newspaper (sarcasm) the 'daily mail'. most people in britain accept that this is designed for (if not written by) people who are less interested in the truth, and more interested in a fascinating, shocking story.

having distanced myself from the very inaccurate reporting, i can say that a few people in uk do withhold intravenous fluids from dying patients when they should give them, and that the 'liverpool care pathway' is not as good at providing good care at the end of someone's life as it was hoped.but generally, dying people in uk do get good pain relief and information about their situation, and the families / friends are also kept updated when the patients allow this.a few years ago, i had the privilege of witnessing one of the last days of my friend's brother with a rare cancer. he had very good care, and plenty of complex drugs to deal with his multiple distressing symptoms. he did not have fluids withheld and he was not dehydrated.